2026-10-09T08:25:15Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34018545 2026-10-01T13:33:46Z category_25003 category_26560 item_type_3 month_year_10_2026

SDP Dataset and Assessments Assare Mokwah (14762560) Sustainable design Environmentally sustainable engineering sustainable design principles SDGs social economic environmental cultural load carriage exoskeletons <p dir="ltr">This systematic review examines the integration of sustainable design principles (SDPs) into load-carriage exoskeleton development. Although these technologies are increasingly investigated for reducing biomechanical and physiological demands during load carriage, their sustainability extends beyond functional performance to material selection, energy efficiency, durability, affordability, safety, and contextual suitability. A systematic search of Scopus, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and supplementary sources was conducted for literature published from 2013 to 2025 in accordance with PRISMA 2020. Fifty sources met the inclusion criteria and were synthesized using a structured framework covering eight SDP dimensions. Safety and Comfort was the most consistently reported dimension, with clear evidence in 47 sources (94%), followed by Energy Efficiency, with clear evidence in 27 sources (54%). Material Efficiency and Sustainability was clearly addressed in 20 sources (40%), while Modularity and Adaptation was predominantly reported partially in 39 sources (78%). Overall, 34 sources (68%) demonstrated moderate SDP conformity, 8 (16%) moderately-high, 7 (14%) moderately-low, and 1 (2%) low conformity; no source achieved high conformity. The mean SDP conformity score was 2.51/5.00. The findings indicate that sustainability considerations are generally incorporated as individual technical features rather than as an integrated design strategy. Greater attention is required to durability, life-cycle performance, affordability, socio-cultural suitability, and long-term field validation. An integrated sustainability-oriented approach is therefore needed to guide the development of effective, maintainable, affordable, adaptable, and context-appropriate load-carriage exoskeletons.</p> 2026-10-01T13:33:46Z Dataset Dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.34018545.v2 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/SDP_Dataset_and_Assessments/34018545 CC BY 4.0